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Court sentences five to death for 2006 Mumbai train bombings

An Indian court has sentenced five people to death for their role in a series of 2006 Mumbai train bombings. India has accused Pakistani intelligence and the terrorist group Lashkar-e Taiba of orchestrating the attacks.

Seven others were also sentenced to life in prison for the bombing attacks that killed 188 people and wounded more than 800.

The 12 were convicted earlier this month after a seven-year trial that found them guilty of murder, conspiracy and waging war against the government for the coordinated explosion of seven pressure cooker bombs on Mumbai commuter trains in July 2006.

The defense lawyer of the convicted said all 12 would appeal the court's decision.

"We still believe they have been framed and the court has relied on confessions and not on mitigating evidence," defense lawyer Wahab Khan told reporters.

The convicted were originally represented by defense lawyer and Muslim rights activist Shahid Azmi, who was killed under mysterious circumstances in 2010.

Prosecutors accused Pakistan's ISI intelligence agency of backing the attacks, which India claimed were carried out by the Pakistan-based terrorist group Lashkar-e-Taiba with help from the outlawed Students' Islamic Movement of India.

India has also accused Laskkar-e Taiba of carrying out the 2008 Mumbai attacks, which killed more than 160 people. Pakistan has denied allegations that it lent support to the terror group.

Thirteen Pakistani nationals and four Indians have also been charged for the 2006 bombings but have not been arrested. One person was charged but later acquitted.

Nuclear-armed India and Pakistan have waged three wars, two over the contested Kashmir region, since splitting at independence from Britain in 1947.